Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Surface coated – fluid encapsulated – laminated solid... – Dry flake – dry granular – or dry particulate material
Reexamination Certificate
2002-06-04
2003-06-17
Tran, Lien (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Surface coated, fluid encapsulated, laminated solid...
Dry flake, dry granular, or dry particulate material
Reexamination Certificate
active
06579548
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to methods of making granular food products and the resultant products.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Agglomeration has been used in the food industry for a long time to produce agglomerates with improved dispersability from fine powders. The known use of water as agglomerating agent generally is limited to the agglomeration of water soluble particles which after having been wetted stick together forming liquid bridges. During drying the liquid bridges are transformed into stable solid bridges. Furthermore, processing of hygroscopic food powders using water as spraying agent often results in defluidization due to overwetting.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,938 to Sander et al. discloses a process for improving the dispersion of a vegetable gum in water. The process comprises dry blending a food grade particulate carrier and vegetable gum particles, fluidizing the mixture with an air stream, intermittently spraying water onto the fluidized bed so that the surfaces of the particles become wet and tacky, resulting in the particles sticking to each other. Subsequently, the process comprises air drying for the time intervals during which no water is sprayed, resulting in the particles becoming bound to each other. The spraying and drying intervals being continued until agglomerated particles are formed.
The present invention provides a mechanically stable, free flowing granular food product having an improved wettability and hot dispersability so that the granular food product may be dispersed while being simply poured into hot water, not provided in the prior art. The present invention also provides a process for the production of a mechanically stable, free flowing granular food product having an improved wettability and hot dispersability so that it may be dispersed while being simply poured into hot water.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a granular food product that includes a filler and a high melting fat present in combination in amounts sufficient to impart body and flavor components to the granular food product, with the filler being present in an amount that is greater than that of the high melting fat; and a binding agent present in an amount sufficient to bind the filler and a high melting fat to form the granular food product. Advantageously, the granular food mixture has a mean particle diameter of about 600 &mgr;m to about 1200 &mgr;m, with less than about 3% by volume of particles having a diameter smaller than 200 &mgr;m and a moisture content of about 1% to about 6% by weight of the product.
Preferably, less than about 10% by volume of the particles have a diameter that is smaller than about 300 &mgr;m and less than 10% by volume of the particles have a diameter that is greater than 1900 &mgr;m, and the filler is present in an amount that is about 9 to 45 times as great as the amount of the high melting fat. Also, the granular food product preferably has a span in diameter distribution from about 1 to about 2, a moisture content of between about 3 and 4.5% by weight of the product, and a critical bulk weight that is greater than about 4.3 mm.
The filler is advantageously present in an amount of about 78% to about 92% by weight of the product, and is selected from the group consisting of flour, starch, spices, milk powder, sugar, salt, bouillon masses, extracts, flavorings, fruit powders, and mixtures thereof. The filler is preferably selected from the group consisting of wheat flour, corn flour, soya flour, potato starch, wheat starch, corn starch, spice mixes, vegetable extract, meat extract, yeast extract, spice extract, and mixtures thereof. The binding agent is advantageously present in an amount of about 2% to about 8% by weight of the product, and is selected from the group consisting of a vegetable gum, gum arabic, guar gum, gum carrageenan, and mixtures thereof. The high melting fat is advantageously present in an amount of about 2% to about 10% by weight of the product and is selected from the group consisting of palm fat, beef fat, chicken fat, and mixtures thereof. Preferably, the high melting fat has a melting point temperature of about 45° C. to about 60° C.
The invention also relates to a process for making a granular food product comprising the steps of preparing a premix of at least one filler and at least one high melting fat, wherein the filler is present in an amount that is greater than the amount of high melting fat; forming the premix into a granules or agglomerates having a mean particle diameter of about 600 &mgr;m to about 1200 &mgr;m, with less than about 3% by volume of particles having a diameter smaller than 200 &mgr;m; and drying the granules or agglomerates to form a granular food product.
Preferably, the amount of filler is between about 9 and 45 times as much as that of the fat and a binding agent is added to the premix in an amount sufficient to bind the filler and fat in the agglomerates or granules. Typically, the premix is prepared by mixing powdered constituents including from about 2% to about 10% of a high melting fat and from about 78% to about 92% of a filler by percentage weight of the granular food product. The step of forming the premix into granules or agglomerates generally comprises atomizing an aqueous solution containing about 10% to about 30% of binding agent onto a fluidized bed of the premix until a total amount of about 2% to about 8% by weight of granulated food product is atomized and incorporated into the premix. The aqueous solution of binding agent may be atomized into droplets having a mean diameter of about 40 &mgr;m to about 120 &mgr;m through a binary nozzle under a pressure of from 0.5 to 1.0 bar. The premix may be fluidized by injecting a stream of gas through at least one inlet and into the bottom of a fluidized bed agglomeration tower that contains the premix, wherein the gas has a temperature of about 80° C. to about 120° C. Preferably, the gas is air and the aqueous solution is atomized for about 5 min to about 25 min before the granules are dried for about 1 min to about 10 min. Also, the temperature of the premix during the formation of the granules or agglomerates is about 50° C. to 65° C.
If desired, the granules may be cooled in the tower with an ascending current of air having a temperature of about 10° C. to about 30° C. Also, the step of drying the granules generally is conducted to dry the granules to a residual moisture content of from about 1% to about 6% by weight, and preferably to about 3% to about 4.5% by weight of the granular food product.
The invention also relates to a process for making a granular food product by preparing a premix of at least one filler, at least one high melting fat, and a binding agent, wherein the filler is present in an amount that is greater than the amount of high melting fat and the binding agent is present in an amount sufficient to bind the filler and the fat, atomizing an aqueous solution comprising an amount of the binding agent onto a fluidized bed of the premix so as to form the premix into granules or agglomerates having a mean particle diameter of about 600 &mgr;m to about 1200 &mgr;m, with less than about 3% by volume of particles having a diameter smaller than 200 &mgr;m, and drying the granules or agglomerates to form a free-flowing granular food product that is mechanically stable and easily dispersible in hot water. All of the above process embodiments apply to this aspect of the invention, as well. The invention also relates to granular food products prepared by this process.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
As used herein, the expression “mechanically stable” means resistant to disintegration during filling and stocking into a pack, particularly into an individual pack.
As used herein, the mean diameter is defined as a 50% limit (D50) in particle distribution whereby 50% by volume of the particles have a diameter below the 50% limit and 50% by volume of the particles have a diameter above the 50% limit.
The outstanding properties of the present granular food produ
Blasius Leonhard
Dupart Pierre
Haefliger Hanspeter
Kehrli Peter
Nestec S.A.
Tran Lien
Winston & Strawn
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